October 21, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Donna Morrow!

180 years ago
1833

Born on this date
Alfred Nobel. Swedish chemist and engineer. Mr. Nobel became fluent in six languages, and obtained the first of 355 patents at the age of 24. His best-known invention was dynamite, which he patented in 1867. Mr. Nobel acquired the weapons manufacturing firm Bofors-Gullspهng in 1894. When his brother Ludwig died in 1888, several newspapers erroneously printed Alfred's obituary, with one accusing him of being a war profiteer and killer. The accusation prompted Mr. Nobel to create the Nobel Prizes to recognize those who "conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Mr. Nobel was accused of high treason against France for selling the propellant ballistite to Italy, so he moved from Paris to Sanremo, Italy in 1891, and died there from a stroke on December 10, 1896 at the age of 63.

125 years ago
1888

Politics and government
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland was founded.

120 years ago
1893

Football
CRU
ORFU
Round 1
Trinity College defaulted to Hamilton.

Round 2 (First games of 2-game total points series)
Osgoode Hall 34 @ Toronto 28
University of Toronto 7 @ Queen's College 27

100 years ago
1913

Baseball
The New York Giants and Chicago White Sox continued their post-season exhibition tour, with the White Sox winning 6-4 in Peoria, Illinois.

90 years ago
1923

Baseball
Little World Series
Kansas City Blues (AA) 12 @ Baltimore Orioles (IL) 5 (Kansas City led best-of-nine series 4-2)

Lena Styles hit a 2-run home run and Joe Boley, Clarence Pitt, and Otis Lawry added solo homers to account for all the Baltimore scoring in the Orioles' loss to the Blues at Municipal Stadium.

80 years ago
1933

Football
CRU
IRFU
Montreal (2-1) 1 @ Ottawa (3-0) 9
Toronto (1-2) 21 @ Hamilton (0-3) 2

U.S.-Canada professional exhibition
Buffalo 0 @ (Toronto) Crosse & Blackwell Chefs (1-2) 18

The game at Varsity Stadium was the last of three exhibition games played by the Crosse & Blackwell Chefs, Canada's first professional team.

75 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Dorothy Hale, 33. U.S. socialite. Mrs. Hale was an aspiring actress who travelled in New York City art circles. After her husband, artist Gardner Hale, drove on a cliff in 1931, Mrs. Hale was left with severe financial difficulties, her acting career stalled, and she was forced to depend on wealthy friends and lovers to maintain her lifestyle. Mrs. Hale entertained some friends several hours before her death, went to the theatre, and then left friends at the 21 Club in New York to go home. She wrote several suicide notes and then jumped to her death from her 16th-floor apartment window. Mrs. Hale's suicide was commemorated by her friend Frida Kahlo's painting The Suicide of Dorothy Hale (1939).

70 years ago
1943

War
The Royal Canadian Navy Bangor Class minesweeper HMCS Chedabucto sank after a night collision with the cable vessel Lord Kelvin, 30 miles from Rimouski, Quebec; one officer was lost. The Soviet offensive in the Dnieper River bend carried to within 23 miles of Krivoi Rog. Allied forces in Italy seized Alife and Piedimonte d'Alife as they pushed nearer the northern end of the Germans' Mondragone-Venatro line. Japanese units made slight gains in the Satelberg-Son River area northwest and north of Finschhafen, New Guinea, infiltrating the Australian lines at night.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that Lincoln McVeagh would be in Egypt to serve as Ambassador to the Greek and Yugoslavian governments in exile.

Politics and government
The Provisional Government of Free India, aka Azad Hind, was established in occupied Singapore. It was supported by the Axis powers and led by Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose.

Argentine President General Pedro Ramirez named General Alberto Gilbert as Foreign Minister and Gen. Luis Perlinger as Interior Minister.

Society
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal the Chinese exclusion laws in effect since 1882, and passed a bill giving China an immigration quota of 105 yearly.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Roosevelt accepted the resignation of Prentiss Brown as director of the Office of Price Administration.

40 years ago
1973

Football
CFL
Toronto (6-5-2) 19 @ Ottawa (8-5) 20
Calgary (5-9) 7 @ Saskatchewan (9-5) 34

The Rough Riders, who trailed 14-0 after the 1st quarter, scored 10 points in the last 24 seconds of the game to shock the Argonauts at Lansdowne Park. Bill Symons scored the Toronto touchdowns on a 4-yard pass from Joe Theismann and a 1-yard rush, both converted by Zenon Andrusyshyn. Ottawa quarterback Jerry Keeling completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Rhome Nixon with 18 seconds remaining in the 1st half, converted by Gerry Organ, to reduce the deficit to 14-7. The Argonauts led 19-10 in the 4th quarter, but Mr. Keeling connected with Hugh Oldham for a 17-yard touchdown with 24 seconds remaining. Mr. Organ converted, the Rough Riders regained possession of the ball, and Mr. Organ kicked a 25-yard field goal with 1 second remaining to win the game.

Alan Ford, Rick Eber, and George Reed scored touchdowns, while Jack Abendschan added 3 converts, 4 field goals, and a single as the Roughriders routed the Stampeders at Taylor Field in Regina. Messrs. Ford and Reed rushed for their scores, while Mr. Eber scored on a 26-yard pass from Ron Lancaster. The Stampeders trailed 24-0 until breaking the shutout with 9:22 remaining in the game on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Peter Liske to Mark Herman, converted by Larry Robinson.

Baseball
World Series
New York Mets 2 @ Oakland Athletics 5 (Oakland won best-of-seven series 4-3)

Bert Campaneris and Reggie Jackson each hit 2-run home runs in the 3rd inning as the Athletics opened a 4-0 lead and coasted to victory before 49,333 fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for their second straight World Series championship. Ken Holtzman started on the mound for Oakland and led off the bottom of the 3rd inning with a double off New York starter Jon Matlack. Mr. Campaneris then followed with the Athletics' first homer of the series. Joe Rudi singled and Mr. Jackson followed him with a homer to give Oakland a 4-run lead. Mr. Holtzman gave up 5 hits and 1 earned run in 5 1/3 innings to get his second win of the series. Rollie Fingers gave up 3 hits and 1 earned run in 3 1/3 innings of relief before Darold Knowles became the first man ever to pitch in 7 games of a single World Series. Mr. Knowles picked up his second save of the series by pitching to just 1 batter, retiring New York third baseman Wayne Garrett on a popup to Mr. Campaneris at shortstop for the final out. Mr. Matlack allowed 4 hits and 4 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings in taking his second loss of the series. Oakland manager Dick Williams announced his resignation after the game.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Red Red Wine--UB40

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): I Like Chopin--Gazebo

Defense
A 10-ship U.S. Navy task force that had left Norfolk, Virginia for Lebanon on October 19 was diverted to Grenada, where a 16-member military council under army commander General Hudson Austin had taken power following the assassination of President Maurice Bishop and several of his ministers.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): One Moment in Time--Whitney Houston

Scandal
Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, his wife Imelda, and eight others, including international arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi, were indicted by a U.S. grand jury in New York on charges of fraud and racketeering. Mr. Marcos was accused of embezzling more than $100 million from the Philippine government, which he allegedly used to buy three buildings in New York City. The other counts included the charge of fraudulently borrowing $165 million from U.S. banks to refinance the buildings and buy more property.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that consumer prices had risen 0.3% in September.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (10-6) 21 @ Hamilton (8-8) 24

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Relax--Frankie Goes to Hollywood (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Melchior Ndadaye, 40. President of Burundi, 1993. Mr. Ndadaye, the first Hutu President of Burundi, captured 65% of the vote in a democratic presidential election in June 1993, and his Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) won 65 of 81 seats in the parliamentary election later in the month. Mr. Ndadaye took office on July 10, a week after a failed coup attempt, but he and six of his ministers were killed in an abortive coup by army paratroopers. The coup failed after Frfancois Ngeze, the civilian who had been installed as temporary head of state, refused to support the coup and called for Prime Minister Sylvie Kinigi to assume control, and key military leaders supported her.

Politics and government
This blogger attended a forum at Dinwoodie Lounge in the University of Alberta Students Union Building for the candidates in the riding of Edmonton Strathcona in the October 25 Canadian federal election. Reform Party candidate Hugh Hanrhahan was unable to be there, but first-year U of A law student Ezra Levant substituted for him, and did a fine job, responding to the New Democratic Party candidate's accusations of racism on the part of the Reform Party by saying, "Maybe you didn't hear my name: Ezra...Isaac...Levant!"

Diplomacy
Negotiators at the Egyptian resort of Taba agreed on the terms of the first large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners in almost 10 years.

Energy
A U.S. Senate and House of Representatives conference committee complied with the October 19 vote of the House to cancel the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) project, but left $640 million in the appropriations bill for the 1994 fiscal year to help cover the costs of closing the SSC, which had been under construction near Waxahachie, Texas, and would have allowed scientists to study collisions of atomic particles at high speeds in an attempt to better understand the nature of matter. The project was cancelled after $2 billion had already been spent because the estimated total cost had increased from $4.4 billion to $11 billion.

Chess
Gary Kasparov of Russia defeated Nigel Short of the United Kingdom 12.5-7.5 in London to win the world championship of the Professional Chess Association, which the two had founded after a dispute with the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Mr. Kasparov had been the FIDE-recognized world champion, and Mr. Short the FIDE-designated challenger. FIDE responded with its own world championship match in Jakarta, Indonesia between former world champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia and Jan Timman of the Netherlands, which began later than the Kasparov-Short match.

Baseball
World Series
Toronto Blue Jays 0 @ Philadelphia Phillies 2 (Toronto led best-of-seven series 3-2)

Curt Schilling pitched a 5-hit shutout and the Phillies scored single runs in each of the first 2 innings before 62,706 fans at Veterans Stadium. Juan Guzman started on the mound for Toronto and gave up 5 hits and 2 runs--1 earned--in 7 innings in taking the loss.



10 years ago
2003

Society
The United States Senate voted 64-34 in favour of a federal ban on partial-birth abortions.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush invoked a hastily-passed law and ordered a feeding tube reinserted into Terry Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman at the centre of a bitter right-to-kill battle.

Diplomacy
The Irish Republican Army announced that it had been destroying its arms and would continue to do so. British Prime Minister Tony Blair then announced dates for elections in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Politics and government
The Progressive Conservatives, led by Danny Williams, won the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial election, taking nearly 60% of the popular vote.

Baseball
World Series
New York Yankees 6 @ Florida Marlins 1 (New York led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Hideki Matsui singled in a run in the top of the 8th inning to break a 1-1 tie and the Yankees scored 4 more runs in the 9th before 65,731 fans at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens. Aaron Boone led off the top of the 9th with a home run to make the score 3-1, and Bernie Williams hit a 3-run homer to put the game away. Mike Mussina gave up 7 hits and an earned run in 7 innings to get the win, while Mariano Rivera pitched 2 innings for the save. Josh Beckett started on the mound for Florida and gave up just 3 hits and 2 earned runs in taking the loss.